I’ve joined the fight to do what’s right
in aid of land and liberty.
I’ve stood my soul from head to toe
to fight as men who’re free,
Through mountains insurmountable
and trials that no man should know,
I hold my creed to do what’s right
that through it all this truth will show –

“God bless the loved ones of my home, relieve their worry and their fear. Grant them peace in knowing that we fight as free men here.

Protect my brothers beside me, bless their step that they’ll not fall. Grant compassion’s wisdom, that they’ll do right when anger calls.

Find me in your vision, grant me strength when I’m alone. Guide my hand with wisdom that I may carry truth back home.

Forgive injustice when it’s played, grant me strength to forgive in same, that if You call for me here, honor…

Softened shadows follow me
between the temporal poles of light
as dawn is echoed hauntingly,
reflected in this dusk, this night.
Yet heartfelt scent
on whispers lent
does bathe each silent moment spent,
that stands me breathing sparingly
amidst this hallowed fright.

The footsteps in the corridor,
in pensive creaks and strain,
bear the question still once more,
“who’s there?” in feared refrain.
The words once said
drift overhead,
thus beckon moans from one long dead,
that freeze me at the bedroom’s door
in pounding heart and vein.

Long the silence holds me still,
afraid to move or breathe,
as courage seeks to gain my will
and from this frigid posture leave.
Yet curiously held
by what befell
the one who moans beyond death’s knell,
I wait in silent pause until
I hear the voice in heaves.

Spirit’s heart at horizon’s length,
‘neath azure skies that strike the sound
of echoed desert silence,
does rise in rhythm, call in strength
to speak no lies and bless the ground
with feet so drummed, no violence.

Expanse of land and eagle’s call,
draws canyon’s echo above, below,
so still the morning air –
plunge to valley’s depth in fall,
feather swept in roll to show
the fabric of all living there.

Yet great expanse, by nature’s hand,
grounds the very soul of me –
blends me insignificant,
yet carries tall the truth I see.
This balance here, all I’ve sought.

This fabric found in passion’s tones,
bleaching red and grey in sum,
culling canyon’s echoed heart
and where imaginations run,
so in holds this lesson taught –

“We stand amidst these finer things
of nature’s truth and simple love.
We, but moment’s beating heart to draw it in and…